Lets talk about the (w)age gap

The inequality in remuneration among male and female stars in India's film industries is huge. While most feel that this should change, some say that they don't see it changing anytime soon

When Patricia Arquette, who won the Oscars for Actress in the Best Supporting Role for Boyhood, took her "bad ass mom" screen persona to another level by insisting on wage equality in the industry during the Oscars on Sunday night, Meryl Streep and Jennifer Lopez almost fell off their chairs. She said, "To every woman who gave birth to every tax payer and citizen in this nation: We have fought for everybody else's equal rights. It's our time to have wage equality in the US."
Celebrities in India seem to agree with Arquette.

Nimrat Kaur, actress
"Personally, I haven't experienced wage inequality since I am new to the industry and I think I do get a fair remuneration. But I do know of women who get a lower wage even if they are as experienced or as senior as their male counterparts. I think it is unfair and women do need to get together to fight this inequality. Women are working just as hard and are just as competent for the same job. Why then should they accept lower wages or compensation for the exact same job?"

Komal Nahta, trade expert
"Yes, the difference in terms of wages paid is definitely there, but it is most glaring when it comes to actresses. When you look at certain fields such as choreography or make-up artistes, there is not much difference, but actresses are paid much less than their male counterparts. If I were to capture it in a phrase, then I would say the situation is Hum Saat Saath Hain', which is basically reflective of the situation wherein a top-tier heroine makes '7 crore (saat) while the highest-paid hero makes '60 crore (saath). "While Katrina or Deepika might have been in the industry for a long time, even newcomers such as Sidharth (Malhotra) or Varun (Dhawan) have already reached where they are in terms of pay."

Sonu Sood, actor
Actually Hollywood is more professional when it comes to wages. If the remuneration isn't satisfying, I think one could take a call if you want to accept the offer at all. Having said that, I think no one gets what they deserve...everyone could do with a little more. Hopefully things will change in the future.

Shriya Saran, actress
"I agree it's a male-dominated industry, but when women aren't even paid 20 per cent of the men's salary, you know it's unfair. Very few international stars such as Angelina Jolie can command something on equal terms... this has to change " and will " but only with constant dialogue and spreading of awareness."

Raveena Tandon
"There is a huge disparity, but it's not so much in terms of wages, but in terms of who's going to rule the roost. If you take the 90s, the actress would be doing about 30 films to make up for what their male counterparts are making. But there is also the fact that the credit or the discredit for any particular film usually rides on the hero's shoulders. While a film that has flopped can ruin a hero's career, the heroine usually goes scot-free... A good sign is that the younger generation is moving forward. They are consolidating the support and aren't letting everyone take things for granted."

Apurv Nagpal, writer
"Women and men in Bollywood are paid in strict correlation to economic significance, there's no bias in the industry. A woman choreographer, art director, fashion designer, director will get as much as a male. A female star will earn less because in the box office the reality is that female leads matter less vs. the male. But this is changing slowly, and more films like Queen are needed to complete the transformation."

Ricky Kej, Music composer
"When it comes to inequality, there will always be some prejudice, be it in terms of sex or skin colour or caste in India. It's almost ingrained from a young age. We have to ensure that the next generation grows up with zero prejudice, so education has to start early."

Saying it with numbers

Hrithik Roshan earns Rs 25 crore per film. His Bang Bang co-star Katrina Kaif earns Rs 6 crore. Surprisingly, both charge similar amounts for appearances: Hrithik Rs 1.5 crore and Katrina Rs 1 crore. For performances at weddings and other events, Katrina commands Rs 2.5 crore, while Hrithik reportedly gets Rs 2 crore.

Anushka Sharma gets Rs 6 crore per film while Ranveer Singh gets Rs 10 crore). Interestingly, Anushka had already starred in Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi and Badmaash Company before Ranveer made his debut with Band Baaja Baarat.

Kareena Kapoor and Deepika Padukone reportedly command a '8 crore fee. Priyanka Chopra takes home Rs 7 crore. In contrast, Ranbir Kapoor charges Rs 20 crore. He also charges a reported Rs 2 crore fee per appearance, whereas Priyanka and Deepika both charge Rs 1 crore, while Kareena charges Rs 80 lakh.

The Hollywood wage gap
Patricia Arquette's Oscar acceptance speech isn't the first time the huge pay gap between male and female actors in Hollywood has been highlighted.

In December 2014, a speech given by two-time Oscar winning actress Hilary Swank to film and TV students in Los Angeles also touched on the subject. "My male counterpart will get paid 10 times more than me " 10 times. Not double, but 10 times for the same job," Hilary was quoted as saying.

When the high-profile Sony email hacks occurred, among the most shocking revelations was that Jennifer Lawrence was paid much lesser than the male leads (Bradley Cooper and Christian Bale) for the film American Hustle. Reports pointed out that Jennifer " hot off the Hunger Games trilogy was a bigger star than both Cooper and Bale.

Her co-actress Amy Adams who has been nominated for the Oscars four times"was also paid considerably lesser than the male stars.

When Forbes magazine published its annual list of highest earning Hollywood actors for 2014, Sandra Bullock topped the list for actresses, earning a $51 million pay cheque. She was followed by Jennifer Lawrence, who took home $34 million. By contrast, the topmost paid actor, Robert Downey Jr, earned $75 million. Even an actor like Dwayne Johnson aka The Rock, earned more than Sandra in 2014 ($52 million). Forbes further reported that the top 10 female actors for 2014 earned a combined $226 million, while their male counterparts grossed a combined $419million.